 
Xphillipjrx
Member
Username: Xphillipjrx
Post Number: 160
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 4:18 pm: |    |
I got into a discussion about schools and society as a whole. I thought of a question that everybody could answer: Would you want your child to attend the same school(s) you went to? If not, why not? |
Tkshreve
Member
Username: Tkshreve
Post Number: 579
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 4:28 pm: | |
Yes.
I attended the same schools as my father.
(Message edited by tkshreve on September 22, 2008) |
Alley
Member
Username: Alley
Post Number: 660
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 4:28 pm: | |
My daughter is in the same school district I was (Grosse Pointe) but goes to Trombly instead of Defer, like I did. That would put her at the same middle school, Pierce, and highschool, GP South, that I went to. I feel I received a good education, so I'm happy with the current situation |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 5589
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 4:33 pm: | |
Right now if I had kids in high school I would say sure. 18 years from now...probably not. Warren is on the downer and I see Cousino HS turning into a Clintondale-ish dump by that time. |
Xphillipjrx
Member
Username: Xphillipjrx
Post Number: 161
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 4:33 pm: | |
My brother and I went to Southfield schools from 1st-12th grades. My parents moved to WB so that my sister could go to WB schools 6th-12th grades. My brother now lives in Southfield and he said he's not sending his kids to the same elementary school that we attended.
I live in Chicago and my wife and I are looking for a school for our kids. The neighborhood school is out because there are a bunch of kids there from outside the neighborhood. Parents of those kids don't like their neighborhood school so they bring them to our neighborhood school.
I am sure the school we end up choosing has been frowned upon by other families who remember how it used to be. That's how I came up with this thread. Is there anybody out there who's satisfied with their former school(s)? |
Lodgedodger
Member
Username: Lodgedodger
Post Number: 593
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 4:50 pm: | |
Moot point for me: I don't have children AND the schools are no longer there. |
Urbanoutdoors
Member
Username: Urbanoutdoors
Post Number: 1062
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 4:56 pm: | |
Mine would be a yes and no. I went to Gesu, St. Scholastica, Friends, and Shrine High. I would say I would send My kids to Friends, Waldorf, and Trinity if I had the option. St. Scholastica will always have a special place for me since my mom taught 6th and 7th grade there for 15 years but it is hard to put your kids in a situation as the only minority. That said some of the teachers that I had are still there and I would love my kids to have them. Gesu is the same as Scholastica but I believe all of the teachers have changed.
Shrine was just an all around bad experience for me besides the sports. I did have some good teachers but since I was white and hung out with the African American kids I was called an inside out oreo and because I was from Detroit, I lived in the ghetto, when I think the University District was far from the ghetto. I had to take a summer school class at U of D and I would definitely send my kids there as well as where my sister went(Mercy). |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 3858
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 5:00 pm: | |
If it was still there, yes |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 2294
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 5:26 pm: | |
yep |
Birdie
Member
Username: Birdie
Post Number: 58
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 5:43 pm: | |
I went to Burton International, Waldorf and was homeschooled. I don't know what Burton is like these days, but if I had kids I'd send them to Waldorf or homeschool them in a heartbeat! |
Sludgedaddy
Member
Username: Sludgedaddy
Post Number: 160
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 6:21 pm: | |
I attended Catholic grade and High Schools. Received an education via the good Sisters of the Spanish Inquisition and the Fascist Order of Christian Sadists....heh...heh...Discipl ine....Beat Me Sister, Eight to the Bar...Discipline...heh...heh.. . |
Turkeycall
Member
Username: Turkeycall
Post Number: 25
Registered: 09-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 6:44 pm: | |
Attended Bethany Lutheran - Chatsworth and E. Outer Drive. If the same type of dedicated teachers as I had in the mid-50's are there now, then there'd be no problem sending my grandchildren there. My 1st-grade teacher in 1956, Mr Brummer, assured the parents that their children would be reading and comprehending the newspapers within six months. He was successful in 95% of the students. The other 5% took another month.
I attended Lutheran East, graduated '68. Alas, it has disappeared from the scene along with its neighbors, Regina and Notre Dame. |
Youngprofessionaldetroiter
Member
Username: Youngprofessionaldetroiter
Post Number: 379
Registered: 07-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 6:47 pm: | |
Yeah. But I'd require them to do a one hour a week of "community service" with the Jesuits at Tom's Tavern. |
Daddeeo
Member
Username: Daddeeo
Post Number: 138
Registered: 09-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 8:31 pm: | |
My parochial schools in Detroit are now out of business. Mother of Our Savior and St. Mary of Redford graduated many smart people and were well thought of while enrollment was strong.
I'm not sure how many schools are run by the church in the city anymore. Anybody know? |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 1823
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 9:37 pm: | |
No, none of them. |
Tk65
Member
Username: Tk65
Post Number: 99
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 9:39 pm: | |
nope. |
Ggores
Member
Username: Ggores
Post Number: 389
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 11:06 pm: | |
Umm, after reviewing my high-school yearbooks yesterday - "hell no". Then upon realizing that I am, ahem, getting older, I thought "hell yes"! Class of '84, baby! We're tight. |
Tammypio
Member
Username: Tammypio
Post Number: 182
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 11:31 pm: | |
quote:I'm not sure how many schools are run by the church in the city anymore. Anybody know?
There are currently 11 Catholic schools left in the city of Detroit. 8 of them are elementary or middle school (St. Cecelia, St. Scholastica, St. Bartholemew, Gesu, Most Holy Trinity, Christ the King, Holy Redeemer and Our Lady of Guadalupe). The Jesuits are running U of D Jesuit and Loyola and then there is the new Cristo Rey High School...I know very little about this one.
When school opens again next fall, you can expect that at least 1 or 2 of the above listed will no longer be open.
A sad reality.
By the way, to the person who is concerned about their child being the only minority....Gesu has several "minorities" right now. My son is one of them and he has been a student there since preschool (he is in 7th grade now!). He is not known as the "white boy" at all. Only by his name. We have a few students, besides my son, who are not of African American descent. The school is not as diverse as I would like, but I'm doing my part!
By the way, I teach at Gesu and would recommend it to those looking for a good school in the city. We offer a real "family" atmosphere at our school as well as a strong academic foundation.
I could go on "selling the school", but that's not what this thread is about.
I move on.
By the way, I attended Hamtramck schools and did not have a clue as to how to study when I went on to Michigan State. So much for that 97.75 average. So...no, I would not put my son in the school I attended. |
Professorscott
Member
Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1631
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 11:51 pm: | |
Just to show how far it's fallen for Catholic education in Detroit, and how quickly (from an article in an education magazine):
"O’Keefe, who serves as vice president for institutional advancement at U of D is well aware of the recent history, noting that in 1965 there were 52 Catholic high schools in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park."
This isn't just a Detroit thing. The Prof's family hails from an old mill town in upstate New York, Cohoes by name. When the Prof was growing up in the early 1960s, Cohoes had eight Catholic parishes, each with its own grade school, and there were two Catholic high schools to handle those kids when they got older. As of 2005 or 2006, there is not a single Catholic school (for any age of child) in that City.
The Church seems to be abandoning, as quickly as it can get away with it, that part of its mission. Almost like it doesn't care about us anymore... |
Crosswordgirl
Member
Username: Crosswordgirl
Post Number: 146
Registered: 08-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 12:14 am: | |
white school and cleveland middle in detroit? oh hell no. is an explanation necessary?
cass tech? maybe, but there's no way i would let them catch the busses i had to take to get there. |
Grumpyoldlady
Member
Username: Grumpyoldlady
Post Number: 240
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 12:50 am: | |
No way, no how! I attended Denby when it was a great school...a SAFE school to attend. Now just getting out of there and home without any physical damage is the primary goal of most students. I attended Denby from 64-67 and later lived across Kelly Rd from the school in 1980-82. I saw the whole Denby attitude change from a fun place to learn and participate in sports, to a place that is a haven for the various drug dealers, gangs and other social deviates. I'd home school my kids if my only other choice was a Detroit public school. Fortunately my son is now 26, and even when we lived in Detroit, he did not attend public school. |
Hamtragedy
Member
Username: Hamtragedy
Post Number: 308
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 12:55 am: | |
I would send my kid to Renaissance, if I had one, and if he/she could get in.
Urbanoutdoors....that makes two backwards Oreos. I totally embraced it & still do to this day. |
Jleurck
Member
Username: Jleurck
Post Number: 5
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 1:04 am: | |
Prof, I think a lot of this has to do with fewer men and women taking up religious vocations within the Church. The cost of faculty was miniscule back in the day. Where I live here in Virginia, my parish has an elementary (K-8) school, but I think there are maybe four or five nuns on the ENTIRE faculty. That means paying competitive wages to attract the best teachers away from school districts that often have deeper pockets. When we left Livonia back in 1969 (I think), I'm pretty sure the elementary school at our parish (St Michael's) was still almost entirely staffed by nuns. When we moved here, we looked at putting our two oldest into the parochial school, but we couldn't swing the cost.
I think the drawdown of Catholic schools in Detroit is also a product of a lack of parishioners. Nineteen years ago, the Archdiocese closed down an enormous amount of parishes within Detroit, end ever since then at least one or two a year have been clustered with other parishes or closed entirely. The former huge population of ethnic Catholics in Detroit has largely left, and has been replaced by folks of other (or no) denomination, or maybe they haven't been replaced at all, if you look at how Detroit's population has halved itself over the last fifty years.
I don't think the Church really wants to abandon it's presence in education. For some holy orders, education is their very mission in life - their charter. In Detroit's case, I just think the Archdiocese is handcuffed by lack of money to offer a traditional Catholic education. Maybe the Archdiocese needs to involve itself with the charter schools (other than just leasing or selling former Church school property). I think everyone realizes that DPS is a living, breathing tragedy and in very real danger of being taken over by the State. |
Ladia
Member
Username: Ladia
Post Number: 186
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 6:10 am: | |
No, DPS is not doing well,my old schools are still open,but may eventually close also. |
Mauser765
Member
Username: Mauser765
Post Number: 3245
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 6:29 am: | |
No: they sucked and still do. |
Olddetroiter
Member
Username: Olddetroiter
Post Number: 1441
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 9:39 am: | |
Actually I'm talking grandchildren now, not children. But the answer is .... no way!••• Columbus and Denby in the '50s were great, but I wouldn't risk their life or mine going around there now. |
Wordonthestreet
Member
Username: Wordonthestreet
Post Number: 168
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 9:49 am: | |
I went to a wealthy suburban school district. I would not send my kids there for a couple reasons.
1. Lack of diversity (economic, social, racial, ethnic)
2. Not in Detroit
I will still live in Detroit when it comes time to raise a family and I plan on sending my kids to a private school (Cranbrook, Liggett, U of D, Waldorf or Friends).
Sad but true, it seems like some of the private schools in the area have more diversity than the public schools. |
Swingline
Member
Username: Swingline
Post Number: 1185
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 10:42 am: | |
quote:Now just getting out of there and home without any physical damage is the primary goal of most students.
quote:But the answer is .... no way!••• Columbus and Denby in the '50s were great, but I wouldn't risk their life or mine going around there now. Thanks for the insight. Not really.
Think about it. No one claims that these schools or their neighborhoods should make the Forbes Best list. But these kinds of ignorant and exaggerated comments do nothing but promote the toxic racial and city/suburban divisions in this region. People who harbor and declare such false claims of constant violence S. of Eight Mile are a huge part of the problem this region faces when it tries to beat back national stereotypes and portray itself as a vibrant, creative and satisfying place to live. |
Wormbookie
Member
Username: Wormbookie
Post Number: 41
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 10:46 am: | |
I actually tried to send my son to Golightly, which was where I went. It was a great school when I went there and it is still usally on the Skillman Foundation's best schools list. It was a total disaster. It was like boot camp training, not a well-rounded, healthy education. And I am not a fan of the DPS light blue prison "uniform". The things that didn't work for us might not bother some people, though. We only lasted there four weeks before we headed back to Waldorf. |
Ltorivia485
Member
Username: Ltorivia485
Post Number: 3088
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 10:53 am: | |
No because Detroit has changed too much, even the inner suburbs have changed for the worse. All good things come to an end, and change is inevitable. |